Author: Dann Corbit
Date: 10:58:44 01/19/01
Go up one level in this thread
On January 18, 2001 at 18:28:31, Wayde Beasley wrote: >This is what you said: "Tim Mann is the author and the owner of the standard." > >Prove it. There is no onus on me for proof. Programmers follow standards, not the other way around. If you don't understand that, it is simply your loss. I am not even interested in trying to prove it. >Now, by "standard" I believe you meant WinBoard chess-engine communication >protocol. Now, anybody can define a protocol; I'll do so here: it's called the >"Idiot's Chess Engine Protocol" or ICEP. To comply with this protocol, which I >own, a chess engine must send every third move in SAN format, except on the >Sabbath, in which case only coordinates are acceptable. In all other cases, >between the hours of 1:00 p.m. and 8:48 p.m., moves to the GUI must be >coordinate; otherwise, it's SAN again, but the Bishop is indicated by "L" and >not "B" and the Queen is "D" and not "Q", except again on the Sabbath when it >goes back to American or English SAN, unless of course there's a lunar eclipse. You can define a standard, but you can't define the Winboard standard. It belongs to Timm Mann. >Standards are dictated by an act of collective adoption. If the chess world >decides to adopt ICEP as a standard, I cannot come back and disallow that with >the claim that I own it, because individuals do not own standards, only groups >"own" standards. Nobody owns the PGN, EPD, FEN, ISO, ANSI standards any more >than I own the Heimlich Manuever. There are standards bodies like the ANSI C committee etc. And they do decide what goes into the standard. But once the standard is written, the programmers follow the standard. If the standards body decides to change it, then there is a change to the standard. It may be due to programmer requests, but in any case, the standard is changed by the owner of the standard, not by the programmers. BTW, nobody is going to use your protocol. But you are right, you can invent one. >On January 18, 2001 at 15:42:20, Dann Corbit wrote: > >>On January 18, 2001 at 14:34:50, Wayde Beasley wrote: >>[snip] >>>Tim Mann does NOT own the standard. He just owns a PROTOCOL, but not the >>>STANDARD. It is the engine-writers that set standards or adopt standards by >>>choosing to use Tim Mann's protocol. The standard is just that because the >>>engine people have chosen to adhere to a single protocol. Tim Mann is in no >>>position to alienate engine-writers from further use of any standard or any >>>protocol, for that matter. Just had to make that point. >> >>No. This is backwards. >> >>Compiler writers do not own the ANSI standard. >> >>SQL database systems do not own the ISO standard. >> >>Chess programs using PGN do not own the PGN standard. >> >>Winboard programs do not own the Winboard standard. >> >>The standards dictate how programs must perform, not vice-versa. >> >>This is the only way to prevent chaos. >> >>If I write a chess program and say that the standard is wrong and do it my own >>way, who is wrong if it does not work properly? I am wrong.
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